Longhorns Pitcher Tanner Witt To Miss Remainder Of Season With Injury

The Longhorns announced Thursday morning that Witt will be shut down for the season.

Texas baseball suffered a huge blow to their weekend rotation on Thursday morning, as they announced that their Sunday starter, Tanner Witt, is being shut down for the season. 

Witt, who had been dominant in his first two starts of the season against Rice and Alabama, was scratched from his start against UCLA for precautionary reasons. After further evaluation by the Texas Sports Medicine Staff, it was found that Witt suffered an injury to his Ulnar Collateral Ligament and will undergo Tommy John reconstruction surgery.  

This is a devastating development for the Longhorns as Witt had a strong start to the 2022 season as part of the weekend rotation. Through two starts, Witt was 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA, striking out 14 over 11 innings. 

Tanner Witt

Tanner Witt

Tanner Witt

Looking ahead

Moving forward Texas will need to find a reliable Sunday starter to take Witt's place in the rotation. Witt, part of a talented weekend rotation, will leave big shoes to fill in the wake of his injury. 

Possible replacements

Lucas Gordon 

Gordon had a solid outing against UCLA in Witt's place, throwing four innings of one-run baseball. He also started in a midweek game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, going five innings without allowing an earned run. Gordon, a sophomore, is a prime candidate to step up and take Witt's spot in the rotation. 

Andre Duplantier II

Duplantier has been a midweek starter for the Longhorns this season, as well as coming out of the bullpen throughout the season as well. Now, Duplantier is a candidate to be promoted to the weekend rotation, as he currently sports a 2-0 record with a 4.50 ERA. While the ERA looks bad, it is the result of a rough start against Texas State in which he allowed seven of his eight earned runs on the season. 

Luke Harrison 

A potential surprise candidate to take Witt's spot in the rotation is freshman reliever, Luke Harrison. Harrison, who has exclusively worked out of the bullpen to start the season, has flashed elite stuff when he's taken the mound. Harrison has nine appearances on the season, sporting a 0.00 ERA over 9.1 innings, including eight strikeouts. 

Lucas Gordon 

Andre Duplantier II

Luke Harrison 

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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